Halloween is almost upon us and the web is overflowing with gruesome (in the visual and culinary sense) items of food to be served at Halloween parties.

I would like to raise the tone a little. Behold the Vampire Slayer cupcake.

These cupcakes are gory but elegant, and critically have two other points in their favour. First, they’re edible. Even though they are literally zombie grey inside, there is no dye, no packet cake mix. Just real ingredients for real delicious.

Secondly, they’re edgy – you see these are no ordinary dead-on-the-inside grey cupcakes. These are black sesame cupcakes, and with rosy swirl of vanilla butter roux frosting and a dribble of blood red raspberry jam, you wouldn’t feel like a complete arse feeding them to Adriano Zumbo. If he were coming round.

The other thing I love about them is how they look “just so” with their beautiful cream coloured rose frosting…

– until you put a “bullet wound”…

…and then a stake into them.

Afternoon tea at Buffy’s house never looked so good.

Vampire Slayer Cupcakes

makes 10-12

Black Sesame Cupcakes

ingredients

100g salted butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
50g flour
1/4 cup  black sesame seeds, toasted lightly in a pan, then processed to a fine powder with about 2 tbsp icing sugar
2g baking powder

mixing

Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases. I like to use black cases for aesthetics. Spray the cases with non-stick spray.

Beat the butter and sugar until very light and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour, black sesame powder and baking powder, beating for about 2 minutes.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases – no more than 2/3 full – you want these cupcakes to raise up only to the edge of the cases so that your piped rose frosting will be flat. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack.

Butter Roux Frosting

ingredients

mixing